Outback Odyssey: Tharkik & Tibus Unite

The Outback was a strange place.

I met Tharkik the Dwarf at the pub in Sydney, a few days before he and I would set out for a journey into the depths of the desert. We had been introduced by Dave, my best mate, who knew Tharkik from years ago. I had never heard of dwarves before, so when Dave showed up with him on his shoulder, I was surprised to say the least. The little guy had a beard that seemed almost as long as his body and nearly as wide as my arm. He ordered us drinks and some dinner, then started to tell us about this quest he was going on.

"Hello there!" he said with a huge smile, extending his hand. "The name's Tharkik. Nice to meet you."

"Tibus," I replied as we shook hands. "So... what's your deal?"

"Well Tibus, it's like this," Tharkik said with a sigh. "We've got some bandits up in outback that are pillaging the villages thereabouts. They even robbed one of our own caravans last month! It's gotten bad enough where I'm heading out to hunt them down."

"You're going alone?" Dave asked, sounding concerned. "If they've taken down an entire caravan..."

"Oh no, not alone," Tharkik assured him with a grin. "I'm taking you with me." He turned to me again, still smiling. "And you too, if you're willing." His eyes sparkled with determination beneath his bushy brows and massive beard.

I was immediately taken aback by this proposal, but tried not to show it too much when I replied: "Uh... sure!" Any adventure sounded better than staying in Sydney for another minute. So instead I just sat back and watched Dave talk about what we would need for the trip: weapons, water supplies, rations...

Dave was clearly worried about this quest of ours. He kept looking over at Tharkik while he talked and the two of them spoke to each other in hushed whispers every now and then - probably making sure everyone else thought we were just old friends catching up over drinks together or something like that. But I knew better; I could see it in Dave's body language as he leaned closer and closer to Tharkik over the course of the evening: there was some tension between these two blokes... and not just because Dave was shorter than most people (and dwarfs) were used to seeing! I tried to figure out how long they'd known each other from their conversation that night at the pub but all I could tell was that they had known each other for more than ten years... well before Dave moved from England here to Australia anyway.

They both seemed pretty excited about our new mission together though - maybe their professional relationship wasn't so professional after all? Whatever it was, it didn't seem right to pry into their personal lives so I decided not to ask anymore questions that night; maybe later on when we were all a bit more comfortable with each other again once we'd set off into the Outback together! And so after a couple more drinks (Tharkik seemed to know exactly what he was doing when it came to picking out beer!) we all shook hands and went our separate ways for bedtime; first thing tomorrow morning we were planning on setting off westwards towards the line of mountains separating us from the Outback itself!